248 POPULAR FRUIT GROWING. 



many plants out of such a number that will be fairly productive 

 of good fruit. It is this variability that gives us an opportunity 

 of originating new kinds that are better than those now grown. 



To raise strawberries from seed the ripened berries should 

 'be crushed in a small amount of dry sand or loam as soon as 

 they are "dead ripe." The seed and sand should then be sown 

 at once in a somewhat shaded bed of rich soil, when the seed 

 will come up in a few weeks if well cared for. The plants should 

 be transplanted four inches apart in another bed as soon as 

 large enough to handle. By winter, if carefully attended to, 

 they will be of good size and may be moved to the fruiting bed 

 in the spring, where they will fruit the following year; that is, 

 in two years from the time the seed was sown. It is a very sim- 

 ple process and may be carried on by any careful person. The 

 raising of seedlings is not often profitable, but is a very fascinat- 

 ing line of experimental work on account of the possibility that 

 one may develop a variety of more than ordinary value. 



For practical purposes, strawberries are increased only from 

 runners, which most desirable kinds produce in great abundance 

 when growing in rich soil. These runners are attached to the 

 old plant only one season, the connection dying the first win- 

 ter if not before. It is common to separate them into old plants 

 and young plants. By old plants is meant the plants that have 

 once borne fruit. They can be distinguished by their black 

 roots, and should never be used for starting new beds except in 

 an emergency, as they often fail to grow. The young runners 

 are what should be set out. They have never fruited, have white 

 roots, and were formed the season just preceding the spring they 

 are set. Strawberries should never be grown from divisions, un- 

 less it is necessary to save the stock of a valuable kind. 



Location and soil. A northern slope is most to be desired 

 for strawberries as there they are not exposed to drying souther- 

 ly winds, which occasionally in exposed locations so dry out the 

 land that the crop is seriously lessened; also, as the plants start 

 latest on north slopes the blossoms are not as liable to be in- 

 jured by the late spring frosts which sometimes cause serious 

 injury to plants that start early. Some growers, however, are 

 very successful in growing them on southerly slopes or on level 



